De Silvestro Becomes Winningest Woman In Atlantic Championship History
at Lime Rock

LAKEVILLE, Conn. (July 18, 2009) - 2009 Cooper Tires Presents The
Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda points leader Simona De Silvestro
became the winningest driver in the 36-year of the series with another
dominating performance at Lime Rock Park.

Driving the No. 78 Stargate Worlds/Maakoa/Cheyenne Mountain
Entertainment/FireSky/Cardinal Technologies machine for Team Stargate
Worlds, De Silvestro started from the pole position and led every lap
en route to a 10.004-second victory over John Edwards. It was the third
victory of the season for De Silvestro and the fourth of her career,
moving her one win ahead of Katherine Legge, who won three races in
her lone Atlantic season of 2005. The win also enabled De Silvestro to
extend her lead in the championship standings to 17 points, 89-72, over
a second-place tie between Edwards and Jonathan Summerton after five of
12 races.

"I had a good qualifying in the rain (on Friday), so I started on
pole," De Silvestro said. "I think pole is a big advantage at pretty
much every track we go to. The race was good. Borja (Garcia), in the
beginning, put a little bit of pressure on me, because he was right
behind me and he was, I think, a little bit quicker in the beginning.
Then, I could settle in. I think the first lapped cars I got, I got
through cleaner than he did, so that gave me a little bit of a gap and
then I just concentrated on my race. I went through traffic really
well. Then, I heard that John was passing Borja for P2, but my lead was
pretty extensive. It looked easy, but it was pretty hard to keep the
concentration up because I was kind of on my own out there. It was fun.
It's always fun to win like this with such an advantage. My team did a
great job. They give me a car every weekend that I can win with, so I
hope we can keep it up like this."

Edwards charged from fifth on the starting grid to finish second
in the No. 36 MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development/Nuclear Clean Air
Energy/NEI/Entergy entry for his third podium result in five races this
season. His gain of three spots from start to finish earned him the
$2,000 Hard Charger bonus and an extra championship point, allowing him
to move into a tie with Summerton, his Newman Wachs Racing teammate, in
the point standings.

"I got the Hard Charger, and I don't think I've ever had to work so
hard to finish second in my life," Edwards said. "It was really a
hard-earned podium finish, because we didn't have a good qualifying.
I was really trying to come from behind in the race. Once I got clean
air and up to second, I was able to run the same speed as Simona and I
think I got fast lap in the race. At least we know that the car is good
and we didn't lose 10 seconds to Simona. Unfortunately, we just had
a lot of traffic in the beginning that I had to get by. We're really
looking forward. It's too bad that the person we're fighting most in the
championship won the race, but we know we're on pace with her now. It's
only halfway in the season. We've still got a lot left to go."

Garcia finished third after starting second in the No. 6
Celebfilms.co.uk/CJConsulting.us machine for Condor Motorsports. It
was the second Atlantic podium of the Spanish rookie's career. He also
finished third in the first race of last month's doubleheader at New
Jersey Motorsports Park.

"I didn't start really good, because I had a lot of (wheel) spin, but
after the first five laps, the car was good," Garcia said. "I stayed
behind Simona, but after Lap 5 or Lap 6, I started to lock the right
front tire. After that, I had a lot of understeer, and it was impossible
to continue the same pace like Simona and also the same pace like
Edwards. I think the only thing was to finish third. It's a good result
and we'll see what happens next week."

Making his first start of the season for Newman Wachs Racing, Summerton
came home fourth in the No. 34 Nuclear Clean Air Energy/Entergy/NEI car.
It was the fourth top-four performance in five races this season for
Summerton, who drove the first four races for Genoa Racing.

Tonis Kasemets matched his best run of the season with a fifth-place
performance in the No. 35 Fatburner machine for Polestar Motor Racing.
The Estonian driver previously finished fifth in Round 2 at Miller
Motorsports Park in May and has finished seventh or better in every race
this season.

NOTEBOOK

* Belgian rookie Frederic Vervisch missed the podium for
just the second time this season with a sixth-place run in the No. 17
Roularta/Isomo/Genoa Racing machine. Vervisch still leads the Rookie of
the Year point standings by 14 markers, 60-46, over Garcia.

* Rookie James Winslow earned the best result of his Atlantic career
with a seventh-place result after starting eighth in the No. 19 CARS
Motorsport/Genoa Racing entry. Winslow's previous best results were
a pair of eighth-place finishes in Round 1 at Sebring and Round 2 at
Miller Motorsports Park.

* Defending series champion Markus Niemela had a tough race after
qualifying fourth for his first race in the No. 1 Jensen MotorSport
machine. Niemela - who drove the first four races of the season for
Newman Wachs Racing - finished three laps down in ninth position.